---
title: "Night-time lights (VIIRS, DMSP): papers using it"
description: "From Nov 2023 to Oct 2026, 231 archived papers mentioned Night-time lights (VIIRS, DMSP) in their title, abstract or keywords (the search of earlier months' full texts is still under way), most of them in Nov 2023 (11)."
url: https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/night-time-lights-viirs-dmsp
markdown_url: https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/night-time-lights-viirs-dmsp.md
license: CC BY-NC 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)
share_text: "From Nov 2023 to Oct 2026, 231 archived papers mentioned Night-time lights (VIIRS, DMSP) in their title, abstract or keywords (the search of earlier months' full texts is still under way), most of them in Nov 2023 (11). (as of 2026-11-05)"
data_url: https://scholar4ai.com/data/rankings.json
updated: 2026-11-05T06:02:37+09:00
window: 2026-10-07 to 2026-11-05
source: OpenAlex (CC0)
---

# Night-time lights (VIIRS, DMSP)

[Browse dataset profiles](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/directory/page/5.md)

Night-time lights, land cover, satellite imagery and maps.

- data category: Satellite and geospatial data
- 0 papers in the last 7 days
- Names searched for: nighttime light, night-time light, night light, VIIRS, DMSP

Most-used data: https://scholar4ai.com/rankings/datasets.md · All Satellite and geospatial data datasets: https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/satellite-and-geospatial-data.md



## Key findings

- From Nov 2023 to Oct 2026, 231 archived papers mentioned Night-time lights (VIIRS, DMSP) in their title, abstract or keywords (the search of earlier months' full texts is still under way), most of them in Nov 2023 (11).
- Night-time lights (VIIRS, DMSP) was mentioned in 5 papers in the last 30 days (2026-10-07 to 2026-11-05), ranking #64 of the 246 datasets mentioned.
- By journal category: Economics (4) and Finance (1).
- Most of them appeared in Small Business Economics (1), Research in Transportation Economics (1) and World Development (1).
- From 2017 to 2026 (so far), Night-time lights (VIIRS, DMSP) was mentioned in 339 papers in the tracked journals, most of them in economics (257), finance (23) and operations research (19).
- 79 of them were published in 2025, against 8 in 2017.
- Since 2023, the institutions with the most of these papers were Monash University (9), Peking University (8) and World Bank (7).
- The journals publishing most of them were World Development (21), Journal of Development Economics (16) and International Review of Economics & Finance (12).
- The most-cited of them is “Which night lights data should we use in economics, and where?” (Journal of Development Economics, 2020), with 403 citations.
- Papers use Night-time lights (VIIRS, DMSP) most often with NOAA (27), Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) (18) and MODIS (17); it has 44 partners in the code and data network, in the group around World Development…, Eurostat, International Energy….

## Mentions over 36 months

*Papers mentioning it by publication month, Nov 2023 to Oct 2026 (titles, abstracts and keywords; the full texts of earlier months are still being searched)*

| Trend | Nov 23–Oct 24 | Nov 24–Oct 25 | Nov 25–Oct 26 | 36 months |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|
|  | 72 | 75 | 84 | 231 |

## Papers per year

*Papers per publication year and category*

| Category | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 (so far) |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|
| [Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/economics.md) | 7 | 8 | 7 | 14 | 18 | 17 | 32 | 52 | 59 | 43 |
| [Finance](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/finance.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 12 |
| [Operations Research](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/operations-research.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| [Management](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/management.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| [AI](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/ai.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
| [Health Economics and Policy](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/health-economics-and-policy.md) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| [Statistics](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/statistics.md) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| [Tourism and Hospitality](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/tourism-and-hospitality.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| [Marketing](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/marketing.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| [Information Systems](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/information-systems.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| [Higher Education and Research](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/higher-education-and-research.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| All categories | 8 | 9 | 7 | 18 | 21 | 18 | 41 | 70 | 79 | 68 |

## Where the papers come from

*Journals with the most papers, since 2023*

| # | Journal | Papers |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | [World Development](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/world-development.md) | 21 |
| 2 | [Journal of Development Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-development-economics.md) | 16 |
| 3 | [International Review of Economics & Finance](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/international-review-of-economics-finance.md) | 12 |
| 4 | [Land Use Policy](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/land-use-policy.md) | 11 |
| 5 | [Empirical Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/empirical-economics.md) | 8 |
| 6 | [Transportation Research Part A Policy and Practice](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/transportation-research-part-a-policy-and-practice.md) | 7 |
| 7 | [Energy Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/energy-economics.md) | 6 |
| 8 | [Journal of Comparative Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-comparative-economics.md) | 6 |
| 9 | [China Economic Review](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/china-economic-review.md) | 6 |
| 10 | [Journal of Urban Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-urban-economics.md) | 5 |

*Institutions with the most papers, since 2023*

| # | Institution | Papers |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | [Monash University](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/monash-university.md) | 9 |
| 2 | [Peking University](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/peking-university.md) | 8 |
| 3 | [World Bank](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/world-bank.md) | 7 |
| 4 | [Xiamen University](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/xiamen-university.md) | 7 |
| 5 | [London School of Economics and Political Science](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/london-school-of-economics-and-political-science.md) | 6 |
| 6 | Asian Development Bank | 5 |
| 7 | [Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/centre-national-de-la-recherche-scientifique.md) | 5 |
| 8 | Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad | 5 |
| 9 | [Southeast University](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/southeast-university.md) | 5 |
| 10 | [Centre for Economic Policy Research](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/centre-for-economic-policy-research.md) | 4 |

*Countries with the most papers, since 2023*

| # | Country | Papers |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | China | 91 |
| 2 | United States | 48 |
| 3 | United Kingdom | 42 |
| 4 | Australia | 22 |
| 5 | Germany | 22 |
| 6 | India | 15 |
| 7 | Italy | 14 |
| 8 | Netherlands | 12 |
| 9 | France | 11 |
| 10 | Hong Kong | 9 |

*Keywords with the most papers, since 2023*

| # | Keyword | Papers |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | nighttime lights | 119 |
| 2 | [China](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/china.md) | 41 |
| 3 | [India](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/india.md) | 15 |
| 4 | [economic growth](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/economic-growth.md) | 14 |
| 5 | [spatial spillover effects](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/spatial-spillover-effects.md) | 12 |
| 6 | [economic development](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/economic-development.md) | 11 |
| 7 | [urbanization](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/urbanization.md) | 11 |
| 8 | [COVID-19 pandemic](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/covid-19-pandemic.md) | 10 |
| 9 | economic activity | 10 |
| 10 | prefecture-level cities | 10 |

## Most-cited papers

*Most-cited papers since 2017*

| # | Citations | Per month | Title | Journal | Published | Authors |
|---:|---:|---:|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 403 | 5.7 | [Which night lights data should we use in economics, and where?](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2020.102602) | [Journal of Development Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-development-economics.md) | 2020-12-31 | John K. Gibson, Susan Olivia, Geua Boe‐Gibson et al. |
| 2 | 217 | 2.2 | [Subways and urban growth: Evidence from earth](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2018.09.002) | [Journal of Urban Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-urban-economics.md) | 2018-09-25 | Marco Gonzalez-Navarro, Matthew A. Turner |
| 3 | 216 | 2.0 | [Do refugee camps help or hurt hosts? The case of Kakuma, Kenya](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2017.09.005) | [Journal of Development Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-development-economics.md) | 2017-09-28 | Jennifer Alix‐Garcia, Sarah Walker, Anne L. Bartlett et al. |
| 4 | 210 | 2.0 | [Do the rich have stronger willingness to pay for environmental protection? New evidence from a survey in China](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.12.033) | [World Development](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/world-development.md) | 2018-02-03 | Shuai Shao, Zhihua Tian, Meiting Fan |
| 5 | 170 | 3.5 | [Digital finance and household carbon emissions in China](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2022.101872) | [China Economic Review](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/china-economic-review.md) | 2022-10-07 | Xiaodi Qin, Haitao Wu, Rongrong Li |

## Used together with

Papers use Night-time lights (VIIRS, DMSP) most often with NOAA (27), Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) (18) and MODIS (17); it has 44 partners in the code and data network, in the group around World Development…, Eurostat, International Energy….

*What papers use Night-time lights (VIIRS, DMSP) together with (at least 3 papers; lift 1 = chance)*

| Used with | Type | Papers using both | Lift |
|---|---|---:|---:|
| [NOAA](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/noaa.md) | Dataset | 27 | 16.4 |
| [Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/demographic-and-health-surveys-dhs.md) | Dataset | 18 | 6.4 |
| [MODIS](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/modis.md) | Dataset | 17 | 5.8 |
| [Sentinel / Copernicus](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/sentinel-copernicus.md) | Dataset | 16 | 8.1 |
| [Landsat](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/landsat.md) | Dataset | 11 | 8.2 |
| [World Development Indicators (World Bank)](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/world-development-indicators-world-bank.md) | Dataset | 11 | 1.6 |
| [Afrobarometer / Latinobarometro](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/afrobarometer-latinobarometro.md) | Dataset | 10 | 16.6 |
| [Twitter / X](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/twitter-x.md) | Dataset | 10 | 0.3 |
| [Facebook](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/facebook.md) | Dataset | 9 | 0.4 |
| [National Bureau of Statistics of China](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/national-bureau-of-statistics-of-china.md) | Dataset | 9 | 7.7 |
| [OpenStreetMap](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/openstreetmap.md) | Dataset | 8 | 4.0 |
| [V-Dem](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/v-dem.md) | Dataset | 8 | 6.0 |

The whole network: https://scholar4ai.com/code/network.md

## Papers

*Papers mentioning Night-time lights (VIIRS, DMSP) in the last 30 days, newest first.*

| Date | Title | Journal | Authors | Affiliations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-22 | [Business networks and the persistence of entrepreneurship: evidence from China](https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-026-01292-7) | [Small Business Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/small-business-economics.md) | Han Wang, Neil Lee | University of Southampton; London School of Economics and Political Science |
| 2026-10-21 | [Localized economic spillovers of national logistics hubs: Micro-spatial causal evidence from China](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2026.101868) | [Research in Transportation Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/research-in-transportation-economics.md) | Hua Yao, Masoud Kahalimoghadam, Dongfang Wang et al. | The University of Melbourne; Southeast University; Wuyi University; … |
| 2026-10-21 | [The impact of regional growth on internal migration: a district-level analysis for Malawi](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2026.107601) | [World Development](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/world-development.md) | Mauro Lanati, Rainer Thiele | University of Florence; Kiel Institute for the World Economy; Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel |
| 2026-10-09 | [The impact of regional economic growth pressure on CSR disclosure: Evidence from China](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iref.2026.105959) | [International Review of Economics & Finance](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/international-review-of-economics-finance.md) | Huahong Yan, Mingxuan Zhu, Jing Liu et al. | Capital University of Economics and Business; Shanxi University of Finance and Economics |
| 2026-10-07 | [Next job: Matera. How tourism and spotlight shape the local labour market](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2026.104289) | [Regional Science and Urban Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/regional-science-and-urban-economics.md) | Luca Favero, Ilaria Malisan | Collegio Carlo Alberto; University of St Andrews; Bocconi University |

## Cite this page

Scholar4AI. (2026). Night-time lights (VIIRS, DMSP). Journal and Conference Research Rankings. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/night-time-lights-viirs-dmsp

```bibtex
@misc{scholar4ai-datasets-night-time-lights-viirs-dmsp,
  author = {{Scholar4AI}},
  title = {Night-time lights (VIIRS, DMSP)},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/night-time-lights-viirs-dmsp}},
  urldate = {2026-11-05},
  note = {Journal and Conference Research Rankings; data from OpenAlex (CC0); licensed CC BY-NC 4.0}
}
```

License: CC BY-NC 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).